So, our new 2552 arrived yesterday! Kermit's son Kraig delivered it right on time in the morning, gave us as much of a walkthrough as you can without information overload and then we looked at each other and said 'Ut-Oh, now what?' After staring at it for a while, mostly excited, we headed home for the load-in. Our plan was to load it up with the boxes of stuff we had accumulated and head right out to a nearby campground in Napa to check things out, set it up, read through a pile of manuals and get some immediate experience. Initial reactions at this point were: gorgeous rig, seems like the right amount of room and storage, comfortable and easy to drive, mushy feeling brakes, completely horrific (almost useless) Phoenix Manual.

Our initial choice was the Napa Expo, since it had full hookups and level pad sites but they were full due to a big dog show there. So we opted for the next closest, Skyline Wilderness Park, which is more rustic. Site not that level, but it was a large pull-through with 50 amp service and water, and a dump station. Very nice, quiet place with a lot of trails (including horse trails) and some great scenery. $30/night with AAA discount. I was pretty excited at this point because I actually got the PC there and into the site without hitting anything! Leveling with the auto levelers was a bit confusing at first, but I managed to accomplish it with only some minor snickering from a neighbor. It's interesting that when the rig actually looks level, it really isn't. We ended up a bit off level, but I wasn't comfortable with one front wheel off the ground quite yet. Turned out not that noticeable inside, and the fridge worked fine. Slide worked great. Water hookup was no problem, though I'm not sure what the 'normal' position is for on the water switch yet.

First problem.....went to grab the power cable and there was no power cable in the rear compartment. Called Earl. Yep, should have been in the rear compartment. Checked whole rig, no cable. Either forgotten at the factory or stolen enroute during delivery? Earl said he'd send one out ASAP, but I told him I'd look locally first. Left Joni with the PC to unload and went to local Walmart which has some RV stuff, but as it turns out they had all cables except 50 amp. Next stop, local RV and marine parts store. Looked like they had it, hefty 4prong 50 amp. Back at the site, went to plug it into the PC and found the rig receptacle has 3 prongs. Hmmm. Not only that, the receptacle on the PC is a camlock type, not just plug in. Call to Earl again. Verifies that they did install 50 amp service, and both 30 and 50 amp are three prong receptacles. Suggests again to send the cable, or possibly try Camping World. The cable I bought at the local RV parts place was an extension, not a primary cable. Hour later I had the right cable from local CW ($300) and am a happy camper (pun intended) Everything powers up nicely. Awning, tv's, antenna, fantastic fans, DVD and BlueRay, sinks, toilet, shower, fridge, shades, step, backup camera all work wonderfully and seem high quality. Especially pleasantly surprised by water heater which heated quickly and we never ran out with normal use. Also surprised by how quickly the gray water tank filled with just two showers and minimal sink use. Thankful I read Ron's post about the simple gray/black tank equalization process with electric valves which gained us a bit of gray space. Amazing how much water one uses (wastes) on a normal basis.

Second problem.....wanted to see how the furnace and Coleman Mach8 a/c worked. Turned on a/c and the Coleman cranked up and seemed to work well. Set fan to low to see how quiet it would get and it went to low and sounded really quiet. Somewhere between setting gas heat and electric heat the thermostat died. Blown fuse in thermostat. Quick trip to Home Depot for more fuses. Thermostat displayed room temp when set to off, but when switched to heat or cool and adjusted with up/down, it would display the room temp then set temp then '00' which I think is a comm failure of some sort, then blew the fuse again. Pulled the thermostat and carefully pulled wiring out of the wall. All connections seems good with wire nuts and no shorts I could see. Reinstalled and changed fuse one more time....no luck. It was pretty late by this time and we decided to forego heating. Temps got down to just below 50 degrees outside and it was about 55 inside. Pretty chilly, but manageable for one night. Good thing Pomeranians were bred to pull sleds and are just big enough to keep your feet warm in the twin beds. Beds were amazingly comfortable, by the way. Decided to call our first big trip (one night) a success, as far as experience, head back home, finish loading the rig and figure out the thermostat issue.

All in all we love our PC and have received a few comments from people already about how nice it is. Earl at Phoenix was very apologetic and supportive. Kraig was very nice, prompt and helpful with the delivery. And lots of folks on this forum have provided so much great info that it helped us a great deal in figuring things out and making our first days easier. Thanks!

Wow! I'm sorry about the extra "experience" you had on your first trip. Good thing you have two Poms, as that eliminates any fighting over who gets the foot warmer. I took several other owners' suggestions about an extra heat source and bought a small, ceramic heater from Lasko. It has an 800 watt/lo and 1000 watt/hi setting. It does a good job of keeping us toasty on chilly nights. We sometimes close the bedroom curtain/door part way and put it on the floor next to my bed where it warms us nicely. It makes a little noise but not too bad and is not as disruptive as the on/off cycle of the heat strip with blower. The control dials are on top so I can reach them from my bed and adjust it up before crawling out in the morning. We have camped down to 27 degrees so far. We set the heat strip to 60 and turned on the little space heater. One night the heat strip never went on - the space heater did the trick. Some campgrounds don't allow electric heaters but we haven't hit that yet. The heater tucks in under the passenger bed or for a quick move from site to site, it lays face down in the bottom corner of the bed and hasn't moved yet. We ALWAYS unplug it before leaving the rig and when not in use. I also bought a little black hexagonal silicone pot holder from Walmart that we put under it on the floor. It doesn't seem to heat up the floor but it does vibrate a little so the pot holder quiets it. We actually have 4 of the pot holders. One black for the floor fan, one red for the coffee pot since we sometimes tuck it away in the cupboard while it is still hot, and two blue ones for the kitchen to use as trivets or pot holders. We use a ball bungie to wrap the heater cord for storage (love ball bungies, use them on our hoses, power cords, heater cord, BBQ tools and to hold our ladder in the up position so it is out of the way until needed). Even when you get your thermostat fixed, I recommend the little heater. It does an awesome job.

A little late for you, but for others reading this post that are in the purchase process, here is a suggestion. When I (my husband could not come due to business) picked our PC2100 up at the factory a little over a year ago, I videoed every minute of the "walk-through." Anything that wasn't clear, I had Amanda and/or Kermit repeat or explain in a different way. I cannot tell you how many times we have pulled up those videos (on the camera or laptop). Then I took all those manuals, reviewed every one, sent in the warranty cards, and organized them with each in its own plastic sleeve and filed in a tote box which is kept handy. Also have referred to that box on numerous occasions. Even if you have owned other RVs (my previous was a 24' trailer), each new one is a whole new experience.

Don't hesitate to call a manufacturer, local authorized service dealer, or RV service center and pick their brains. We have gain great information this way as well.

Congrats on the new PC. Next should be lakefront site involving some fishing for a complete shakedown. I think Kermit would share some or all of your expense for the power cord.

If you have to fool with the thermostat anyway, you might consider a separate thermostat for the propane furnace. I have had one in my last four RVs and it works great for hot evenings and cold mornings. If you have the heatpump, it will quit working at about 45 degrees. Just some thoughts. Enjoy!

That walkthrough video sounds like something that would be valuable to a lot of folks. Wonder why Phoenix doesn't provide one, especially for delivered units since we don't get to have a real walkthrough at the factory. Even one for each base model without lots of options would be extremely valuable. The 'manual' just doesn't cut it. Like you, I'm currently going through each manual, reading them, filing them and filling out registration/warranty cards. I even have a warranty card for Barker Manufacturing and I haven't run across anything on the PC that relates to them (their website references jacks and things, but the one in my rig isn't theirs). And yes, the most important thing is to enjoy it...and we are, very much!

Shipper:

I think Kermit will make things right. Not too worried about that. And the second thermostat idea is something to think about for sure. Nice having one thermostat control everything....um, except when it doesn't. I did specify a 'non-heat pump' unit, and it concerns me that the thermostat appears to be for a heat pump. I crawled up on the roof to see which type was installed, but naturally the cover screws are of a type I didn't have a driver for. No big stress factor any way it goes, just a bump in the road. I am so looking forward to that first fishing shakedown trip, you can't imagine . It didn't help matters that the guy at the next site on this one night stay had a little camper van and was traveling the country just to fish!! At least the bright side to being in this part of the country is I won't have to winterize and can fish all winter. Ok, maybe a little waterlogged but who cares when they're biting!

Mike, I don't know how to link to previous posts but somewhere on this forum, Barry (of Barry-Sue) posted showing the use of command hooks to hold his fishing rods. He uses the hooks with the flexible rubber loop that hooks on and off. We use the same hooks for our cell phone booster cable in the cupboard and it holds great! Barry has his rods on the loopy hooks in the rear cabinet. There is a picture here somewhere. Try the tips section - they consolidated a lot of theirs into one post there.

Mike, I don't know how to link to previous posts but somewhere on this forum, Barry (of Barry-Sue) posted showing the use of command hooks to hold his fishing rods. He uses the hooks with the flexible rubber loop that hooks on and off.

Here's the pics of the command hooks for the fishing rods. Two years now and they are still working great!

See? I was paying attention! I did see the post about those particular command hooks when I was reading every forum post a couple months ago and the next day I ran out and bought 8 sets of them at Home Depot! Of course, it was Barry's fishing pole storage that initially drew me in, but I do see how handy those things can be for lots of stuff. Thanks Barry and Sue (and again, Holly)!

Oh, and Holly....you mentioned using ball bungies to hold up your ladder. I noticed on our ladder that when it's swung to the up position and then pushed down and in towards the rig a bit at the hinge it locks in place. Don't know if this newer model has been changed or not, but it's a nice feature. Here's some pics...

Pax congrats welcome to the world of debugging and learning your new baby,,, you are so right about the PC manual, horrrrrible hahah

Please excuse my ignorance,,, but you caught my attention with the 30/50 amp plug,,, your rigged for 50amp ok lots of guys do that,,, but you mentioned 3 prong plug,,, I thought the plugs were different to assist so if you have only 30amp you do not plug into 50amp and fry your system.. if your not sure I think Ron has 50amp, maybe he can explain the question to me

I think all the ladders have the clik?? joint where they fold and hold,, our 2008 does I still bungie the ladder when folded, it flops once and awhile wind, old don't know don't trust it,, good luck on the debugging and safe travelssparky

I am no electrician but I do know that 50 amps requires two hot legs, a neutral and a ground for a total of four legs. 30 amp only requires three legs, one hot, a neutral and a ground. I have a 50 amp (four leg) plug on my house and a 30 amp (three leg) plug on the PC. So I have a dog bone that has four legs for the house and three holes for the the PC. Basically it drops one of the the hot legs from the 50 amp. I would have to question if you have 30 or 50 amps in the PC. If you do how does it work?

Bill Golden suggested leaving the ladder up to avoid the extra steps of opening it and then securing it every time we go into the back cabinet. Since we don't go on the roof much and we DO go in and out of that storage a lot, it makes sense. Bill also suggested securing it. I figure it is possible to hit a hard enough bump to bounce the ladder up and off the locking point so we put the ball bungees on for peace of mind. We use them on: TV cable, space heater cord, two drinking water hoses (2 bungees each), two electric cables (2 bungees each), and two outdoor extension cords (we work on computers at the picnic table). We have regular bungees on the bike rack because we needed longer cords. We use Bongo Ties for our computer cords and all those chargers for our phones, Kindles, MiFi, computer cords, mice, etc. I also bought little kableflags for the chargers because we have so many and just can't remember what they go to (sometimes it doesn't matter but sometimes it does). We were overrun with wires and hoses and cables that all want to stretch out and tangle with something else but now they all tuck into their spots where we can find them easily. I ordered a large purse organizer (that you put all your stuff in then lift out of one purse and set into another) figuring it could sit in the cabinet with the chargers in the pockets all nice and neat but it literally shipped on a slow boat from China and didn't arrive before we hit the road. We have a bamboo drawer organizer up there just because we owned it and it had four sections. Not my perfect solution but functional. With us working and living here full time, we REALLY need organization and control of STUFF.

I am no electrician but I do know that 50 amps requires two hot legs, a neutral and a ground for a total of four legs. 30 amp only requires three legs, one hot, a neutral and a ground. I have a 50 amp (four leg) plug on my house and a 30 amp (three leg) plug on the PC. So I have a dog bone that has four legs for the house and three holes for the the PC. Basically it drops one of the the hot legs from the 50 amp. I would have to question if you have 30 or 50 amps in the PC. If you do how does it work?

Good description Tom, I was wondering the same thing. I suppose the main breaker could be 50 amp instead of 30 amp since the incoming shore cable is rated at 50 amp; then the sub-circuits after the 50 amp main could be the same as on a 30 amp rig but more of them could be on at the same time without blowing the main 50 amp.

This is different from a typical 50 amp Class A rig where as you stated there are two 50 amp hot leads and two 50 amp main breakers which totals 100 amps. A 30 amp rig has 30 amps total and it appears that this 50 amp PC has 50 amps total, which seems fine for a rig the size of a PC, 100 amps would be overkill for a typical Class C.